Irish Fin Whale
Photo Identification Gallery (2004 -Feb. 2026)
Click on an image to enlarge for greater detail on any of the 60 individuals documented to date in Irish waters up to Feb. 2026
Photo Identification
Irish Fin Whale Photo ID Project.
One of the main aims of the WhaleTrack Project is to document the occurrence of large whales in Irish waters, by encouraging members of the public to report their sightings and to forward any useful images to IWDG. This facilitates the recognition of individual whales from their respective catalogues, curated and maintained by IWDG. This can be achieved by photographing their unique and naturally occurring markings, which can be permanent or temporary. The two main rorqual species that have been the focus of this monitoring effort since 1999, are the humpback and fin whale.
Both the biology and ecology of humpback whales lend themselves to the benign research technique known globally as Photo ID (Photographic Identification). Humpbacks have a preference for shallow coastal waters, are slow moving, can be found in Irish waters on average 9 months of the year, but more importantly they tail-fluke, to reveal their impressive and uniquely marked 15-20 ft broad flukes, which can offer even the amateur enthusiast with a decent smartphone an opportunity to capture the all-important “mug shot” that helps us establish whether your whale is known to us, or is a new animal, not previously documented in Irish waters anyway! By contrast, fin whales could hardly by more different and are a far more challenging prospect for even the most experienced wildlife photographer with the fastest of digital SLRs. So of the two large baleen whales our early focus has been on the humpback whale, the low hanging fruit so to speak.
Your images can be used to track the short-range Irish movements of these whales within a season, or by sharing your images with overseas colleagues, in time, such images can reveal their international movements along migration routes and ultimately to their low latitude breeding grounds.
Fin whale and Celtic Mist, Blaskets, Co. Kerry © Nick Massett, IWDG
Fin whale Photo ID, Youghal, Co. Cork Jan 2007 © Simon Berrow, IWDG
Fin whales showing their turn of speed, East Cork Jan. 2012 © Pádraig Whooley, IWDG
Distant fin whale columnar blows, West Cork Nov 2008, © Pádraig Whooley, IWDG
Fin whale group, June 2004 West Cork © Pádraig Whooley, IWDG
Fin whale surfacing © Pádraig Whooley, IWDG
Well marked fin whale dorsal fin of FWIRL004, Youghal Co. Cork Jan 2007
FWIRL002 “Scar”, Toe Head, W. Cork 220807 Padraig Whooley
Lunge feeding Fin whale, Nov. 2008 © Pádraig Whooley, IWDG
What sort of images do we want and what sort of equipment will I need?
Whale Photo-ID by its nature will almost always take place from boats. Capturing an image of a sometimes fast moving and often non cooperative whale, from a moving platform in a frequently choppy sea and in poor light conditions, is not without its challenges. But to have some chance of success, you’ll ideally need to use a skipper who is familiar with this species and their behaviour and who is used to working around some of the planet’s largest animals.
Fin whales were once called the “Greyhounds of the Sea” by early whalers, which will tell you something about how fast they can travel. So, if a fin whale isn’t obliging and shows little interest in your boat getting close, we’re realistically talking about 50-100 mts, then it’s very unlikely that you’ll secure anything other than interesting record shots, that are still useful, as they should help us confirm species, although little else. So, the need to get close to a fin whale, ideally photographing it from both the left and right sides is important, so we maximise the chance of capturing any useful scars, nicks or pigmentation from the head down along the flanks and dorsal fin.
If you are routinely planning on attempting Photo ID on fin whales in Irish waters, then we’d strongly urge you to discuss your plans with the NPWS ( National Parks and Wildlife Service) as you’ll most likely require a research or filming permit, as you would if flying a drone over any species of cetacean.
So in brief, this is really what needs to go right for fin whale Photo ID
- Book an experienced skipper, ideally with a track record in working around large whales.
- You’ll need good weather conditions on the day, with a sea state of 0-3, light swell and good light conditions, to pick up those distant columnar blows.
- Avoid shooting into the sun as this will result in details being lost in silhouette. You can change neither the position of the sun nor that of the whale, but your skipper may be able to reposition the boat and stay in contact with your focal animal.
- With your first approach from the right side, this should capture the diagnostic lower white right jaw and perhaps pale baleen plates (if feeding), so that if nothing else we can confirm species. Fin whales can be easily confused with sei whales (rare in Ireland), but juvenile specimens could be confused with adult minkes (common) in certain conditions.
- Using a fast camera capable of rapid shooting of 6-10 frames per second and using auto focus and image stabilising, take a continuous suite of image from the head/rostrum along the flank to the dorsal fin, which may offer the most useful ID features. Your initial burst of images may not be pin sharp, but by the time you’ve reached the dorsal fin, your auto focus should be working its magic.
- Once you are satisfied that you’ve got a strong suite of images from the right side and assuming the whale is still obliging, repeat from the left side.
- Minimising disturbance to the whale (s) is important, so if you’ve not achieved the above within 30 minutes, leave the whale for others that may be in the area, or re-start your search in a new area.
- It’s always tempting after an intense Photo ID encounter to scroll through your cameras LCD screen for a peek at your results. Don’t be tempted to delete images on the boat.
- After all this, when you get home and download your images you may have dozens of really strong images, alas if the whale isn’t well-marked, and many fin whales aren’t, your images may yet be of little value from a Photo ID perspective. We never said it was going to be easy. This is why most people and researchers prioritise humpbacks!
At time of writing (March 2026) IWDG has catalogued 60 well-marked fin whales, mostly from nicks on the dorsal fin trailing edge and overall shape of the dorsal fin. As you’d expect given the nature of this species, there are many more unknowns in terms of their migration route, breeding grounds, site fidelity and associations. There is so much more to be discovered. Can you help?
| No. Individuals | 60 | |
| Re-sightings within 1 Yr. | 30 | 50% |
| Inter-Annual Re-sighting | 22 | 37% |
| International Match (Portugal) | 1 | 1.6% |
We’d really appreciate your sending us any useful humpback or fin whale images to sightings@iwdg.ie at the highest possible resolution JPEGS. If you’ve taken video, it may be possible to take a screen grab of a tail fluke or dorsal fin and to email this to us as a PDF or a GIF file also.
By Pádraig Whooley, IWDG Sightings Officer
